Italy’s Grendi Trasporti Marittimi, company part of Grendi Group, has just chartered-in the RoRo ship ESTRADEN (owned by Bore) in order to strengthen its cargo capacity on the Marina di Carrara – Olbia route from mid July.
Frequency of the regular service will grow from 3 to 4 times per week.
This 1999-built RoRo unit can offer 2,260 lane metres capacity and is also equipped with two rotor sails.
Grendi Trasporti Marittimi, ro-ro shipping company part of Grendi Holding and controlled by the Musso family, made public the results reached in 2022.
Last year the group’s turnover was EUR 88 million thanks also to 83,871 TEU containers (+3%) and 50,506 ro-ro units (+59%) transported between Tuscany (port of Marina di Carrara) and Sardinia (Cagliari and Olbia).
The CEOs Antonio and Costanza Musso confirmed that the ro-ro vessel named ROSA DEI VENTI and operated on the line, will be purchased by Corsica Ferries at the end of the current 5-year time charter in May for a price of EUR 35 million.
The time charter contract will be renewed with Grendi for further 5 years and this is just one of the new synergies the companies are creating.
Antonio Musso specified that “with Corsica Ferries we are exploring new opportunities and potential synergies. They are not active in the ro-ro market and they would like to increase their presence in the Sardinia region which is exactly our core business. We are also talking about potentially increasing freight transport by sea with Corsica”.
Last year Grendi and Corsica Ferries also submitted a joint proposal for operating the subsidized Civitavecchia – Arbatax – Cagliari ro-pax line which was finally awarded to Grimaldi.
Grendi Trasporti Marittimi, the shipping line controlled by the Musso family and active on the RoRo freight link between Italy mainland and Sardinia, announced good results for the 2021 financial year.
On the regular line connecting the ports of Marina di Carrara with Cagliari and Olbia the two long time chartered-in ships ROSA DEI VENTI and WEDELLSBORG transported:
The port authority of the Sardinian ports officially announced that Grendi Trasporti Marittimi will be granted a short-term concession of an area in the port of Olbia in order to make possible for the shipping line to add this port in the regular rotation which links Cagliari and Marina di Carrara. The liner at first asked a concession in Golfo Aranci but this solution was not viable due to several reasons.
During February, Grendi will also take delivery of the ship WEDELLSBORG. The one-year charter of roro SEVERINE is coming to an end.
Grendi Trasporti Marittimi asked the local port authority of the Sardinian ports to call at Golfo Aranci. This port will be added as the fourth call in the line linking also Marina di Carrara, with Cagliari and Porto Torres.
The green light from the authority is expected to arrive next week. Golfo Aranci is not far from Olbia.
Grendi asked for a 6,000 sq metres concession in the port where semi-trailers and containers will be handled and stored.
As of today, on the roro line between Sardinia island and Italy mainland are deployed the ship ROSA DEI VENTI and SEVERINE.
The decision by the Italian government to potentially extend the EUR 72 million of subsidies to Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione (part of Moby group) until 31 July 2021, but probably even beyond, was not appreciated by several ro-ro and ferry operators in Italy.
One of them Antonio Musso, CEO of Grendi Trasporti Marittimi, said to the local media Port News: “The 12-month extension of the subsidies to Tirrenia-Cin is nonsense and devastating for the economic equilibrium of the maritime transport market between Italy mainland and Sardinia”. He added: “Today the essential links to and from the major islands are guaranteed by several private operators on all the routes. I hope that the European Commission will intervene on the subject, otherwise we will do it: there are enough elements to oppose a contribution that clearly distorts competition”. Thus, Grendi seems to be ready to take the case to the Italian Antitrust Authority or to the Administrative Regional Court of Lazio.
Generally speaking, also Emanuele Grimaldi recently said he would react to any form of public support to unhealthy ferry companies, which may distort competition.
The Italian shipping company Grendi Trasporti Marittimi welcomed yesterday (25 Feb 2020) in Porto Torres, Sardinia, the roro SEVERINE, second ship long-time chartered and deployed on the maritime bridge between Italy mainland and Sardinia island.
A few weeks ago, Antonio Musso revealed to Ferry Shipping News that the vessel was chartered-in from CLdN for one year, in order to increase frequency and capacity of the regular service up to now operated between the ports of Cagliari and Marina di Carrara.
Thanks to the new tonnage deployed, the Genoa-based Grendi Group will be able to add a third port of call (Porto Torres) thus offering the following rotation: Marina di Carrara – Porto Torres – Cagliari – Marina di Carrara – Porto Torres – Marina di Carrara.
SEVERINE was built in 2012 and has capacity for 1,760 lane metres and 12 passengers.
Antonio Musso, CEO of Grendi Trasporti Marittimi, highlighted that “this line is a real motorway of the seas between north and south of Sardinia and with Italy mainland”. Musso also added: “Our line saw a significant increase of volumes since when the terminal container in Cagliari closed down last year and all the international shipping lines started using our line for the import/export of containers and trailers from and to Sardinia”.
Grendi Charters CLdN’s SEVERINE to Increase Capacity on Italy Mainland to Sardinia Route
As from mid-February, the Italian shipping company Grendi Trasporti Marittimi will deploy a second roro ship on the Marina di Carrara – Cagliari route also adding a third port of call in Sardinia.
Antonio Musso, CEO of Grendi, told Ferry Shipping News that the roro SEVERINE owned by Cobelfret will be chartered in for one year in order to increase frequency and capacity of the regular service between Italy mainland and Sardinia.
SEVERINE was built in 2012, can offer capacity for 1,760 lane metres. [link MarineTraffic]
The second port expected to be called by Grendi in Sardinia might be Porto Torres which is located in the north-west of the island. In the full year 2019 on the Marina di Carrara – Cagliari regular link 67,435 TEU and 20,285 semi-trailers were transported.
Genoa-based Grendi Trasporti Marittimi says it has found the second roro ship it was looking for.
It is needed to increase capacity and frequency of the regular line operated between the Tuscan port of Marina di Carrara and Cagliari, in Sardinia.
“Today we are offering three sailings per week. We want to increase the frequency by up to four or five round trips chartering-in a second vessel,” said Costanza Musso, CEO of the group together with her brother Antonio Musso.
The latter added: “We have just found a roro controlled by North European interests with a 1,750 lane metre capacity and a speed of 17 knots. It will be deployed from February. I cannot disclose the name of the vessel since some details of the one-year charter contract still have to be finalised.”
Antonio Musso further stated: “Thanks to this second unit, our roro service will become daily.”
Grendi’s annual turnover, coming also from logistics and land transport activities, is roughly EUR 45 million, with a 20% increase registered in the last twelve months.
The shipping company controlled by the Musso family is active today with the 2018-built roro ship ROSA DEI VENTI (2,500 metres lane metres) long-term chartered from owner Giovanni Visentini Trasporti Fluviomarittimi.
